Events

Ehipassiko — Come and See for Yourself

Events

Free at Last: Identifying Our Suffering Around Race, Ethnicity, Culture and Class While Understanding How to Use The Dharma To Set Us FreeBill Woodson, DaRa Williams
Saturday-Sunday, October 24-25
Saturday: 10am-5pm, Sunday: 10am-4:30pm
Participants must attend both sessions

October 24, 2015 - October 25, 201510:00 am - 05:00 pm

Online registration is now closed.Walk-in registration is available via cash or check.

Come join us for this 6th annual exploration into finding freedom from the suffering we experience as the result of race and racial oppression. In this Free At Last workshop we will explore our individual and group level relationships to race, ethnicity, culture and class and understand how we can integrate wisdom from the Dharma with contemplative practices to find freedom from our suffering. We will create connection in community as we cultivate a safe, inclusive, accepting environment across the various racial and ethnic groups represented by those of us who identify as People of Color. We will examine the range of pain and suffering many of us continue to experience in regard to race. We will spend an equal amount of time reflecting on those teachings of the Buddha that can be particularly helpful as we search for freedom and for skillful ways of responding to the pain, dissatisfactions and discontents we have been experiencing.

We will practice sitting and walking meditation, engage in guided inquiries into the stories we create about “self” and “others, reflect on the Dharma, have large and small group discussions, make use of journaling, and engage in other experiential activities that will support our examination of the ways we have armored ourselves in meeting an often-oppressive society. Most importantly, we will investigate how we can free ourselves from our reactivity that has emerged as a result of our armoring. This combination of activities will allow us to see how we might establish deeper and healthier connections across the barriers that have been erected and enable us to walk fully present and content in our awareness of our relative identity as People of Color.

This weekend is open to all self-identified People of Color. Beginners to Advanced Practitioners are welcome (please have some experience with meditation) – those who attended any of the previous sessions as well as first timers. However, it is required that all participants attend both the Saturday and Sunday sessions.

*Registration fee does not include teacher support.

Teacher support: Suggested starting donation is $30 but whatever you offer is greatly appreciated and no one is ever turned away for lack of funds. All donations go to support the teacher(s). Learn more about this practice of generosity here.

Excerpts of post-workshop reflections from previous participants:

• It was such a powerful experience to be around amazing people who are thinking about these ideas and still coming from a place of love. I feel that these conversations are important and a safe space to do what is powerful.

• Being surrounded by People of Color, acknowledging our pain, having the intention to share and be free from it -- provided a lot of support, recognition, and hope.

• I have been practicing for a while, but the workshop was the first time I was able to engage with my practice in a deeply emotional way. It was very uncomfortable, but I gained some incredible insight as a result.

• I was very moved by the workshop and found the sharing by leaders and participants quite powerful. Deeply felt the collective pain and suffering of our community. Appreciated the tools provided to address these issues.

Bill Woodson
Bill Woodson has a doctorate in psychology and has worked, domestically and internationally, as an organization development consultant specializing in assisting corporations and organizations develop highly productive work teams that value diversity and inclusivity. In that capacity, he has developed and facilitated a number of diversity and inclusion training programs exploring several salient dimensions of diversity. Currently, his professional life consists of his mindfulness-based psychotherapy practice in New York City. He has had a spiritual practice since 1971 and has practiced Vipassana meditation since 2005. In recent years he has been on the board at NYI and Insight Meditation Society. He is currently co-chairperson of the Diversity Committee of the NYI Board of Directors.

DaRa Williams
DaRa Williams is a trainer, meditation teacher and wellness coach. She has been a clinician and administrator in the field of Mental Health for over 25 years. DaRa currently maintains a private practice in Manhattan. She is a certified Complex Trauma Focusing Oriented Therapist and a practitioner of Natural Force Healing, a vibrational energetic healing system. DaRa has been a meditator for the past 20 years and is a practitioner of both Vipassana and Ascension meditation. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, graduate of the Community Dharma Leaders Program, and in the current IMS/Spirit Rock Teacher Training program with Jack Kornfield.

Ways to Give

Membership is an expression of mutual support whereby we are all given the chance to support and nurture a community that supports and nurtures each of us. Membership is vital to the sustainability of this center and community. We depend on member support to provide these life transforming teachings to all who seek them. Members nurture our welcoming and peaceful refuge in the heart of the city.

NYI is an almost entirely volunteer-run organization. To help deliver these programs, we have always relied heavily on a small but committed group of people. In return, theses dedicated individuals have the satisfaction of know NYI couldn’t exist without them. Offering service to New York Insight provides an invaluable way of strengthening your practice.

NYI is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization. All proceeds from your donation go towards upholding our mission to provide these teachings to all those who seek them. Donations help support our modest operating costs, small staff and regular program offerings. We are committed to making our programs available to all and do not turn anyone away for lack of funds.

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About New York Insight

New York Insight is an urban center for the practice of mindful awareness, called Insight or Vipassana meditation. NYI programs include talks, weekly sittings and courses as well as daylong and weekend retreats and workshops for the integration of meditation teachings into daily life. NYI strives to be a center that reflects the vivid diversity of the city in which we live. Our center is a place where everyone of different ages, nationalities, cultures, languages, ethnicities, sexual orientation, and spiritual backgrounds is welcome to begin or deepen meditation practice based on the teachings of the Buddha.